Rochdale will host the biggest game in all of England this weekend as they host York City in a title-decider on the final day of the National League season.
York City are top of the table with 107 points, but remarkably are still not guaranteed promotion with only one automatic place in League Two available.
And as fate would have it, is it Rochdale who are one their tails, sitting just two points behind the Minstermen to set up this winner-takes-all clash. Tickets are, of course, sold out for Saturday's 12:30 kick-off - so how can you see the game?
How to watch Rochdale vs York City in the UK and US
DAZN are broadcasting the clash between Rochdale and York City in the UK and US thanks to National League TV.
How to watch Rochdale vs York City from anywhere
What if you're away from home when Rochdale vs York City is on, and find access to your usual streaming service geo-blocked? The solution is a VPN, a piece of software that sets your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.
FourFourTwo’s colleagues at TechRadar are experts in this field, and they reckon NordVPN is the best VPN provider on the market.
▶︎ Read More: How to watch Premier League 2025/26
Rochdale vs York City: Preview
The permutations are very simple as far as automatic promotion is concerned. For York City, it is a must-not-lose. A win or a draw would see them automatically promoted. For Rochdale, it is a pure must-win: anything less would mean they have to settle for a play-off place.
The National League holds a six-team play-off similar to the one the Championship is set to introduce next season, with the teams who finish between fourth and seventh playing in a pair of one-legged quarter-finals.
The sides who finish second and third then host the winners of those quarter-final games in one-legged semi-finals, with the winners going onto the final at Wembley with promotion on the line.
York finished last season in second place with 96 points but lost to eventual play-off winners Oldham (who finished fifth with 73 points) in the semi-finals. If York miss out again this season, they will equal Notts County's record for the highest points total without getting automatically promoted; County finished second with 107 points to Wrexham's 111 in 2022/23, but went on to win the play-offs.
Veteran broadcaster Jeff Stelling recently hit out at the situation ahead of both sides' games at the weekend on talkSPORT Breakfast.
He said: "Once again a side with more than 100 points may not go up to the Football League on the basis that only one side is promoted. And by the way, the last game of the season...Rochdale against York City.
"Of course it’s got to change. Time and time again, sides go up from the National League and do brilliantly. A lot of them go straight through to the next level as well.
"York City in particular - and no disrespect to Rochdale, they've done brilliantly - but York get big crowds too, a lot more that a lot of sides in League Two and even League One get at the moment.
"If they were not to go up - and they've made a huge investment, by the way - it’ll be a disaster as far as the football club is concerned - [but] what a final day that’s going to be, Rochdale vs York.”
Team News
Rochdale XI
Blue And White Army 🔵👊#rafc pic.twitter.com/R789zXvkxnApril 25, 2026
York City XI
📋 Today's City team to take on Rochdale!Brought to you by Sam Turner & Sons.#YCFC 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/d2nGhKe5pNApril 25, 2026
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